Tanks are designed to do many things: to shoot, to run unstoppably over fields, to intimidate the enemy; in Russia, they are also designed to dance.

Russia marshalled five of them last week to perform in a "tank ballet", humbly entitled Invincible and Legendaryand choreographed by Andrei Melanin of the Bolshoi Theatre. As one of the main attractions at a new annual arms fare designed to boost Russia's standing in the global arms trade, they swayed and waved their gun turrets like limbs to the thumping beat of a Carmen aria souped up on techno .

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russian arms export deliveries for the first six months of 2012 had reached over $6.5bn (£4.1bn), a 14% increase on the same period last year. That figure put Russia on track to beat last year's record-breaking total sales of $13.2bn, analysts said.

In 2005, Russia's arms exports stood at just $6bn, Putin said at a meeting of his military-technological co-operation commission in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "We definitely must keep this positive trend."

With a 24% share of the global arms trade, Russia was the world's second largest arms exporter, lagging only behind the United States, with its 30% share, Putin said. Moscow delivered arms to 55 countries in all, he added.

While some 150 countries at the UN are trying this month to hammer out a global arms trade treaty, Putin shows no sign of reining in Russia's ambitions. "We must focus on expanding Russia's presence on the global arms market," he said. "This applies to the geography of our deliveries and to the list of products and services."

Russia's role in the global arms trade has come under increased scrutiny as the Kremlin pushes back against western accusations that its deliveries to Syria are fuelling Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on the opposition. Russia says it is merely fulfilling contracts signed long ago.

Bringing the arms trade under centralised control was one of Putin's main tasks during his first round as president. He created Rosoboronexport, the state arms dealer, in November 2000, less than a year after ascending to the presidency. By 2007, he had signed a decree giving it a monopoly over the arms trade.

Igor Korotchenko, director of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, a Moscow-based thinktank, said: "Putin named people close to him to control the export of arms – either FSB officers or spies with whom he had worked in the past whose business qualities and loyalty he was sure of.

"This allowed Russia to quickly increase its share on the global market and the amount of its sales."

Russia's main customer remains India, its Soviet-era ally against US-armed Pakistan. Korotchenko said India accounted for over 50% of Russian arms sales last year, including tanks and aircraft. Yet increased competition from the west means it has looked to diversify.

One key market has become Venezuela, with Russia lending the government of Hugo Chávez billions of dollars to buy Russian-made tanks, anti-aircraft rocket systems and mortars, a move reminiscent of the Soviet-era practice of arming allies and client states instead of giving them cash.

Other top clients include Algeria, Vietnam, Malaysia and Syria. Korotchenko said arms sales to China were down as Beijing had begun producing its own military hardware, and former markets such as Libya and Yemen had dried up entirely.

Russia remained focused on tapping markets in Africa and Asia, he said. "There is potential for anyone who has territorial problems with China: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia – they are all increasing their military budgets."

Putin said Russia had signed a total of $5.7bn in export contracts this year, bringing the total value of Rosoboronexport's deals to around $43bn.